Sunday, March 9, 2003
PRESBYTERIAN HOLDS OFF TUSCULUM IN 17-12
SLUGFEST
GREENEVILLE,
Tenn. -- Presbyterian College jumped out to a 14-4 lead
and survived a late Tusculum College rally to win 17-12 Sunday
afternoon in South Atlantic Conference baseball action at
Pioneer Park. PC
sweeps the weekend series 3-0 and ups its record to 9-8
overall, 3-0 in the SAC.
Tusculum falls to 11-9, 0-3.
PC opened
up a 6-0 lead in the second inning, chasing Tusculum starter Chap Morris (Madison, Va.). The
Blue Hose put together five straight RBI singles with freshman
leftfielder Nick
Hoffner (Ellicot City, Md.) also stealing home.
Presbyterian
scored two more times in the third before the Pioneers finally
got on the board. Junior
third baseman Guy O'Connell (Perth, Australia) hit an opposite-field solo home run
and senior catcher Doug
Hering (Okeana, Ohio) drove in the second run with a
single.
An unearned
run by the Blue Hose made the score 9-2 before TC cut the lead
to 9-4 on a two-run shot from Hering.
But PC scored five unanswered runs in the sixth and
seventh for a 10-run lead.
Its two runs in the sixth came off TC miscues, as
senior shortstop Tombo Hite (Abbeville, S.C.) scored on a wild pitch and junior
centerfielder Kevin
White (Spartanburg, S.C.) came across for an unearned run
after reaching on an error.
Hite came
through for PC in the seventh with a two-RBI double and White
followed with a double of his own, scoring Hite, giving the
Blue Hose a 10-run cushion.
Tusculum
stormed back in their half of the seventh, scoring six times
to narrow its deficit to 14-10.
The Pioneers loaded the bases with one out and senior
centerfielder David
McMahon (Knoxville, Tenn.) singled home senior
rightfielder Brendan
Burk (Leesburg, Va.) for the second run of the inning.
The next batter, junior shortstop Robbie
Bouman (Sterling, Va.), hit a ground ball to short, but PC
was unable to turn the double play, extending the inning while
Hering scored. With
a single swing, O'Connell made it a new ball game, hitting his
second home run of the afternoon, this time a three-run bomb
for a 14-10 score.
After a
scoreless eighth, Presbyterian put the game out of reach with
three tallies in the ninth.
TC intentionally walked White with runners on second
and third and one out, but the Pioneers forced in a run with a
walk to sophomore Jonathan
Wyman (Duluth, Ga.).
With two out, senior Davis
Rice
(Clinton, S.C.) slammed the door shut with a two-RBI
single to left.
The
Pioneers attempted a late rally in their last at bat with
Bouman hitting his sixth home run of the season, a two-run
shot, but White retired the last two batters on pop ups to end
the game.
Rice went
five innings, allowing four earned runs to get the victory
(2-1). Morris takes the defeat (3-2).
Up next for
the Pioneers is a road date with Lincoln Memorial University
on Wednesday at 2 p.m. before resuming their SAC slate with a
weekend road series at Newberry College.
Presbyterian hosts Jamestown College on Tuesday
afternoon for a noon doubleheader.